February Trip - to the Midlands

My flight to London City was uneventful and ran to time.  I spent two days working from the London office because I had an important US meeting and this way I could at least attend by video conference.  When I checked in to the hotel they asked as usual if I was familiar with the facilities - "I was here two weeks ago so yes" was my reply.

J, Mikey and Hatty had driven down on Tuesday.  The UK had been battered by some severe storms - this time Scotland had missed the worst of it but England was another matter.  There was heavy flooding and major road closures.  He could not even get to the hotel we had booked at Fradley so he stayed the night with Sarah and Rob.

The next day he managed to get to the hotel to check in, taking more than an hour for what is normally a fifteen minute drive.  Again they stayed the night with Sarah and Rob and in fact Hatty did not stay even one night in the hotel (although that was always likely given she would want to maximize her time with her cousins).

We all got back together on Thursday.  I took a train from London Euston - luckily this service was still running but the West Coast mainline to Glasgow was flooded so there were major cancellations and bus replacement services.  I had the misfortune to choose what I thought looked like a quiet carriage but in fact one person talked loudly most of the way.  She had been in Thailand and had returned out of concern for the coronavirus situation and spent a lot of time sharing her thoughts on the phone.

But I arrived eventually at Lichfield Trent Valley.

Our first trip out all together was to the swimming pool in Tamworth.  The infant pool was a perfect depth for Mikey.  After a great dinner at the Love-Wilsons and not a few episodes of BBC3's comedy This Country we returned to the hotel.

The next day was a major day out at Adventure Farm.  It was yet another bleak, cold day but it was the school holidays so the place was absolutely packed.  The others loved the lamb feeding butMikey was completely unimpressed with the animals

On the other hand the jumping pillows and the indoor playground were a huge hit with everyone.  There was some minor drama with Hatty burning her ankle on one of the plastic slides and Mikey deciding to stay in the ball pond at the bottom of one slide thus stopping everyone else from using it.  But Granny got everyone lunch and spirits were restored.

The real drama came when I went to collect the stroller and Mikey decided to follow me (unnoticed by the five other people from our group there...) only he took the shortest route through the mud (no shoes because he had just been on the jumping pillow).  Everyone had a fantastic time.

In the evening we went to Kev and Amy's, J's brother and sister-in-law, in Lichfield for a catch-up and pizza.  The drama this time was I left a bad outside the car when I got in (I was distracted getting Mikey's seatbelt on).  When we realized Kev drove me back post-haste and thankfully someone had handed it in (it contained passports and iPads so would have been a disaster to lose).

The next morning we picked up Hatty and then stopped off at J's sister Cathy's before we began the long journey home, with a long drive to Heathrow.

February Trip - to Scotland

It was Valentine's Day, February 14th when we left for Scotland.  This was a long weekend in the US because Monday was President's Day.  The third Monday in February, near to George Washington's birthday February 22nd (although the British Empire was still on the Julian Calendar and his birthday was February 11th under that system).  The point is that it was to be a big travel weekend (remember those?) so we really should have left earlier than we did.  The traffic to Newark was grim the whole way and the airport was completely packed.  It was lucky my frequent traveler status let me use the business class check-in desks and my TSA Pre-Check expedited security.

Once past security we had just enough time to eat a quick dinner and drink.  Normally I like to be at the gate before they start boarding but this time we were one of the last on.  The flight left more or less on time after 8pm and then we drove around the airport for an hour before taking off.  It is a very short flight to Edinburgh - at least having eaten I could skip whatever passes for food in United Economy and tried to sleep.

At Edinburgh I handed over our passports.  He scanned mine and then looked puzzled at Hatty's.  "Do you know this passport has expired?".  I knew it was close to expiry but I had forgotten to check because I used her (unexpired) US passport when we left.  I handed over that passport for him to scan and he waved us on.

Once we had the bags we collected the rental car and drove to Maddiston, to Gran and Grandad's for breakfast.  J and Mikey were already in Scotland and met us there.  Our next stop was Anne and Iain's.  Lana was there too although neither were too keen on sharing with each other.

Our next stop for entertainment was a trampoline park near Alloa.  The weather was absolutely horrendous, even by Scottish standards.  There was a road closure due to flooding and my GPS decided to stop working so it was a bit of a struggle to get there but we made it.  Mikey absolutely loves this.

The next day we went swimming in the morning at the Mariner Center in Camelon.  The pool has barely changed since I was Hatty's age but it is a perfect pool for both kids.  After the swimming we went to the adjacent bowling alley - now that is completely transformed from the days I used to go.  Everywhere was really busy because of the weather but we got a lane eventually.

In the evening J, Lynsay, Craig and I had a grown-up night out in Edinburgh.  We went to Six by Nico on Hanover Street.  The concept at this restaurant is they have a six course tasting menu that changes every few weeks.  J and I went for the wine pairing too and the food was absolutely superb.  The only downside is their insistence on describing it before giving it to you - get a move on was what I kept thinking!

The next day we visited another soft-play, pizza for lunch then another trip to the same trampoline park in Alloa.

We were staying at a Premier Inn in Falkirk that is next to a pub so we had been there a couple of nights for dinner.  It was very convenient because it had a soft play area attached (though the Health and Safety jobsworths would sometimes try to stop Hatty going in).  Everyone came round with a cake for Hatty's birthday on our last evening.

The next day we went our separate ways.  I returned to Edinburgh airport for a flight to London.  Everyone else had one last breakfast at Maddiston before they drove to England.  We had emptied the case we borrowed from my parents last time to give them back but it remained in the car while they had breakfast and stayed in the car all the way to England.  So you see it isn't just me that does these things!